Nature prepares for winter

Leafy trees in Tehachapi are preparing for winter by shutting down nutrients to their leaves, a process that produces bursts of brilliant color in a final farewell. The red and burgundy colors are the result of chemical changes triggered by light and cold. The yellow and orange colors are in the leaves all along, masked by the green chlorophyll. In the fall, trees break down the green pigments, exposing the colors. In the dry brown leaves on the ground, all the pigments are gone.

Some trees, like those in front of the Tehachapi Museum, are half red and half green, the result of uneven exposure to sunlight and cold. Evergreen tree needles, coated with a waxy substance and filled with a natural anti-freeze, remain green through the winter. The Tehachapi temperature has been flirting with freezing at night, and the first big cold snap is yet to come.